Total oblivion is the fate of almost everything in this world. I'm very likely to suffer that same fate; my work will probably not be remembered, and if any of it is, if any of those novels is fated to be one of those novels that is still being read 50 or 100 years after it was written, I've probably already written it.
It took Hong Kong 100 years to become what it is.
There are cases when it takes 50 or 100 years for fundamental science to achieve results.